The Depths of the Sea

In the last several months I have been hungry for the ocean.  I know that is an odd way to word the longing in my heart, but it is true.  Growing up the first part of my life in Southern California afforded me many opportunities to go to the beach.   As an adult, though my life has moved on, I still find myself craving time at the ocean and all that goes with that…the smell of the salt water and the subtle taste of it in the air, the soothing roar of crashing waves, playing tag with the water as it rushes onto the shore, the feel of the cool, soft sand between my toes…and the sunsets…the water, a giant mirror reflecting the painted colors in the sky… 

There is a freedom that envelopes me at the water’s edge…a promise, if you will, that everything is going to be okay.  I feel so tiny in comparison to its vastness, and, to me, there is something comforting about that.  It puts things into perspective.  The emotions, thoughts, problems, worries, concerns that have grown so disproportionately large in my heart and mind seem to diminish as I look out onto the water, an ocean that is so much bigger than me…so far-reaching and colossal in its depths. 

The prophet Micah uses the ocean as an image to describe the extent of God’s forgiveness, mercy and compassion toward His people:  “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance?  You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.  You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”  Micah 7:18,19 

This passage reveals the very nature and character of our God.  Not only will He tread our sins underfoot—crush them if you will, He will throw them into the depths of the sea, never to be remembered:  “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”  Isaiah 43:25   

Today, let’s clean house.  Let’s ask God to reveal to us our sins—open our eyes to our obvious and not so obvious sins.  Let’s repent, trusting in God’s character and promises that our sins will be crushed, cast away, and remembered no more.